Toward an adjustable nonlinear low frequency acoustic absorber

A study of the targeted energy transfer (TET) phenomenon between an acoustic resonator and a thin viscoelastic membrane has recently been presented in the paper [R. Bellet et al., Experimental study of targeted energy transfer from an acoustic system to a nonlinear membrane absorber, Journal of Sound and Vibration 329 (2010) 2768-2791], providing a new path to passive sound control in the low frequency domain where no efficient dissipative device exists. This paper presents experimental results showing that a loudspeaker used as a suspended piston working outside its range of linearity can also be used as a nonlinear acoustic absorber. The main advantage of this technology of absorber is the perspective to adjust independently the device parameters (mass, nonlinear stiffness and damping) according to the operational conditions. To achieve this purpose, quasi-static and dynamic tests have been performed on three types of commercial devices (one with structural modi?cations), in order to de?ne the constructive characteristics that it should present. An experimental setup has been developed using a one-dimensional acoustic linear system coupled through a box (acting as a weak spring) to a loudspeaker used as a suspended piston acting as an essentially nonlinear oscillator. The tests carried out on the whole vibro-acoustic system have showed the occurrence of the acoustic TET from the acoustic media to the suspended piston and demonstrated the efficiency of this new kind of absorber at low frequencies over a wide frequency range. Moreover, the experimental analyses conducted with different NES masses have con?rmed that it is possible to optimize the noise absorption with respect to the excitation level of the acoustic resonator.     

Enhancing the dynamic range of targeted energy transfer in acoustics using several nonlinear membrane absorbers

In order to enhance the robustness and the energy range of efficiency of targeted energy transfer (TET) phenomena in acoustics, we discuss in this paper about the use of multiple nonlinear membrane absorbers (called nonlinear energy sinks or NES) placed in parallel. We show this way, mainly thanks to an experimental set-up with two membranes, that the different absorbers have additional effects that extend the efficiency and the possibilities of observation of TET. More precisely, we present the different behavior of the system under sinusoidal forcing and free oscillations, characterizing the phenomena for all input energies. The frequency responses are also presented, showing successive clipping of the original resonance peak of the system, and strongly modulated regimes (SMR). A model is finally used to generalize these results to more than two NES and to simulate the case of several very similar membranes in parallel which shows how to extend the existence zone of TET.     

Enhanced passive targeted energy transfer in strongly nonlinear mechanical oscillators

Single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) nonlinear energy sinks (NESs) can efficiently mitigate broadband disturbances applied to primary linear systems by means of passive targeted energy transfer (TET), but for a rather limited range of energies. We demonstrate that the TET can be significantly enhanced for broad range of energies by introducing additional internal degrees of freedom to the NES in a highly asymmetric fashion. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the enhanced performance is due to a positive synergistic effect of the internal degrees of freedom of the proposed NES with highly asymmetric stiffnesses.     

Experimental study of nonlinear acoustic effects in a granular medium

Results of a series of experimental studies of nonlinear acoustic effects in a granular medium are presented. Different effects observed in the experiments simultaneously testify that the nonlinearity of granular media is governed by the weakest intergrain contacts. The behavior of the observed dependences suggests that the distribution function of contact forces strongly increases in the range of forces much smaller than the mean force value, which is inaccessible for conventional experimental measuring techniques. For shear waves in a granular medium, the effects of demodulation and second harmonic generation with conversion to longitudinal waves are studied. These effects are caused by the nonlinear dilatancy of the medium, i.e., by the nonlinear law of its volume variation in the shear stress field. With the use of shear waves of different polarizations, the anisotropy of the nonlinearity of the medium is demonstrated. The observation of the cross-modulation effect shows that the nonlinearity-induced modulation components of the probe wave are much more sensitive to weak nonstationary perturbations of the medium, as compared to the linearly propagating fundamental harmonic. The nonlinear effects under study offer promise for diagnostic applications in laboratory measurements and in seismic monitoring systems.     

Experimental study of an acoustic communication system in shallow-water conditions

The paper presents the results of experimental studies of an acoustic communication system containing parallel transmission digital information channels, which came about from applying the principles of orthogonal frequency division of individual information channels, resulting in an increased information rate. Received signals were processed by two separate receivers differing in the method by which the pulse response parameters of the medium were estimated during signal propagation. It is shown that to increase the reliability of received digital information for coherent separated reception of a multipath signal, it is necessary to estimate the parameters of this signal’s components in frequency bands corresponding to individual information channels. When such estimates were taken into account, the acoustic communication system provided error-less reception of digital information in all experiments conducted under conditions of the shallow Volgograd Reservoir and Lake Ladoga.     

Experimental study of nonlinear dust acoustic solitary waves in a dusty plasma

The excitation and propagation of finite-amplitude low-frequency solitary waves are investigated in an argon plasma impregnated with kaolin dust particles. A nonlinear longitudinal dust acoustic solitary wave is excited by pulse modulating the discharge voltage with a negative potential. It is found that the velocity of the solitary wave increases and the width decreases with the increase of the modulating voltage, but the product of the solitary wave amplitude and the square of the width remains nearly constant. The experimental findings are compared with analytic soliton solutions of a model Korteveg-de Vries equation.     

Experimental study of a smart foam sound absorber

This article presents the experimental implementation and results of a hybrid passive/active absorber (smart foam) made up from the combination of a passive absorbent (foam) and a curved polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film actuator bonded to the rear surface of the foam. Various smart foam prototypes were built and tested in active absorption experiments conducted in an impedance tube under plane wave propagation condition at frequencies between 100 and 1500 Hz. Three control cases were tested. The first case used a fixed controller derived in the frequency domain from estimations of the primary disturbance at a directive microphone position in the tube and the transfer function between the control PVDF and the directive microphone. The two other cases used an adaptive time-domain feedforward controller to absorb either a single-frequency incident wave or a broadband incident wave. The non-linearity of the smart foams and the causality constraint were identified to be important factors influencing active control performance. The effectiveness of the various smart foam prototypes is discussed in terms of the active and passive absorption coefficients as well as the control voltage of the PVDF actuator normalized by the incident sound pressure.     

Reduction of acoustic radiation by impedance control with a perforated absorber system

A model of sound radiation from an infinite plate with an absorptive facing is proposed and investigated theoretically from the viewpoint of acoustic power. Acoustic characteristics on the plate surface are represented by impedance derived from iso-absorption curves. A parametric study is carried out to clarify the effect of the impedance on the acoustic power. Results derived from this model show that acoustic radiation depends on change in impedance as well as the absorption coefficient, and there is a possibility of reducing the radiation from vibrating surface by introducing an appropriate impedance surface. In order to realize this effect, a model using a perforated board with a back cavity attached to the vibrating surface is proposed, in which the motion of the perforated board is made equal to that of the vibrating surface. To obtain fundamental data, a theoretical study is performed under a simplified condition, assuming an infinite plane piston. The calculated results are compared to experimental data measured by using an acoustic tube. The results, which are in good agreement in the reduction effect, show that this system can achieve the reduction of radiated sound power at arbitrary frequencies.     

Experimental study of the formation of nonlinear acoustic waves in focused beams

The shock wave formation in focused beams produced by spherical hydroacoustic transducers with different apertures and an operating frequency of 3 MHz, as well as in weakly divergent high-intensity beams of the same frequency, is studied experimentally. The profiles of the received signals are analyzed for different receiving points in the acoustic beam and for different combinations of nonlinear and diffraction effects. It is found that the distortion of the initial waveform (i.e., of the compression and rarefaction phases) is asymmetric. The asymmetry of the wave profile in a focused beam is more pronounced than that in a quasi-plane wave while the asymmetric distortion of the high-frequency carrier causes an asymmetric distortion of the pulse envelope. The angular characteristics of the difference-frequency waves produced by parametric sound radiators are compared using both focused and weakly divergent beams of pump waves. The experiments also show that the appearance of a bubbly phase screen in the region before the point of the shock formation either shifts this point to greater distances or makes the discontinuity formation impossible. Results illustrating the changes that occur in the shock wave characteristics when the bubbly phase screen is placed in the region of the fully developed shock are presented.     

The acoustic performance of ventilated window with quarter-wave resonators and membrane absorber

Noise and air pollution problems become significantly in a busy city such as Hong Kong since buildings usually located close to the heavy traffic lines. Traditional openable window cannot fulfill all the functions of noise reduction, lighting and natural ventilation. A new ventilated window combines the multiple quarter-wave resonators (silencer) and the new wing wall designs aim to make a balance between acoustic and ventilation performances at the same time. Furthermore, the use of multiple-wave resonators and membrane absorber which made plexi-glass plastic sheet replace absorption material can improve the durability; avoid small particle emission and light transparency.The acoustic and ventilation performance of new ventilated window were examined in this study. Noise attenuation of the new ventilated window design has improved significantly by combine flexible absorber and quarter-wave resonator effects. Transmission loss of 10–22 dB can be achieved in the frequency range of 500 Hz–4 kHz band. Outlet air flow velocity of ventilated window design is higher than that of “an open window”. Thus, both the acoustics and ventilation performance of the new ventilated window is essential. Wind-driven natural ventilation is an effective strategy in maintaining the comfort and health of the indoor environment.     

Numerical study of energy transfer between a beam and its internal reflection component in a nonlinear medium

A theoretical study is presented of a special case of stationary energy transfer in degenerate two-wave mixing in a reflection geometry. The two interacting beams consist of a beam and its first-order internal reflection component created at the boundary of a nonlinear medium. Numerical results obtained from the computer calculations are presented as graphs. It is found that, under suitable conditions, this phenomenon can be used to eliminate the multiple internal reflections.     

Kinetics of nonsteady-state energy transfer in a medium with an amplitude-phase pattern of the nonlinear response

A solution to coupled wave equations, which describes the kinetics of nonsteady-state energy transfer between two light pulses in a bulk medium with a local nonlinear response, has been obtained in the preset pump-field approximation. It is shown that in a general case the energy transfer is an alternating function of the time delay between pulses, which is dominated by the relative magnitude of the amplitude and phase components of the nonlinear response. The solution obtained was fitted to the results of model experiments on Si. Agreement is reached with the fitting parameters determined from Drude theory for plasma-induced variation of dielectric permittivity. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 1980–1984 (November 1997)     

Surface plasmons mediated energy transfer from a semiconductor quantum well to an organic overlayer

We consider the resonant energy transfer from a two-dimensional Wannier exciton (donor) to a Frenkel exciton of a molecular crystal overlayer (acceptor) when the active media are separated by a metallic layer, possibly an electrode. We characterize the effect of the surface plasmon on this process. Using realistic values of material parameters, we show that it is possible to increase the transfer rate within typically a factor of 5, with a 1.25 efficiency enhancement (up to a factor of 44 with ten times larger efficiency according to geometrical configuration). Foreseeing applications to light emitting diode, we then take into account the quenching of the organic luminescence due to the proximity to the metal. The latter is significant and affect negatively the total internal efficiency that we discuss for different geometries.     

Experimental verification of enhanced photon bunching from a saturable absorber

Preliminary results of measurements of the second order correlation function g⁽²⁾ (0) of light transmitted through a saturable absorber are presented.     

Eigenoscillations of an acoustic cavity with a local membrane

On the basis of Strutt’s approach, the problem of eigenoscillations of a gas in a cylindrical cavity with an internal membrane in the presence of a coaxial circular aperture in it (A.N. Fock’s problem) is analyzed. By an adequate numerical?analytical procedure, a high-precision solution is constructed to a boundary value problem for the eigenfrequencies and forms of lower order oscillation modes for various relative values of the aperture radius. A (qualitative and quantitative) correspondence is established to the results known in acoustics as applied to the concept of the “associated mass of an aperture.” New physical effects are obtained on the dependence of the frequencies and forms of long-wavelength oscillations of a gas on the geometric parameters of the system.     

Experimental and numerical study of self-induced transparency in a neon absorber

Self-induced transparency on the neon transition 2s ₂(J=1)–2p ₄(J=2) is studied both experimentally by investigating the propagation of 3-nsec laser pulses at 1.15 µm in an absorber discharge and theoretically by a numerical integration of Bloch's equations and the wave equation.—The application of linearly and circularly polarized light corresponds to the interaction with a quasi-nondegenerate and degenerate transition, respectively. Pulse shapes, delays, and transmittancevs. input peak intensity are found in quantitative agreement with the calculated data. While with linear light polarization all SIT characteristics clearly appear, with circular polarization the pulse break-up and the oscillation of transmittance due to optical nutations are washed out.—The homogeneous linewidth derived from pulse delay data agrees with the value from conventional measurements. The results prove SIT useful as a quantitative spectroscopic method.     

Experimental and numerical study of self-induced transparency in a neon absorber

Self-induced transparency on the neon transition 2s ₂(J=1)–2p ₄(J=2) is studied both experimentally by investigating the propagation of 3-nsec laser pulses at 1.15 µm in an absorber discharge and theoretically by a numerical integration of Bloch's equations and the wave equation.—The application of linearly and circularly polarized light corresponds to the interaction with a quasi-nondegenerate and degenerate transition, respectively. Pulse shapes, delays, and transmittancevs. input peak intensity are found in quantitative agreement with the calculated data. While with linear light polarization all SIT characteristics clearly appear, with circular polarization the pulse break-up and the oscillation of transmittance due to optical nutations are washed out.—The homogeneous linewidth derived from pulse delay data agrees with the value from conventional measurements. The results prove SIT useful as a quantitative spectroscopic method.Work supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft     

Experimental demonstration of linear precompensation of a nonlinear transfer function due to second-harmonic generation

We report on what we believe is the first experimental demonstration of the linear precompensation of a nonlinear transfer function due to frequency conversion. As a proof of principle, we show the effective precompensation with an interferometric filter of FM-to-AM conversion due to second-harmonic generation in a potassium titanyl phosphate crystal.